ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 1. The National Bank of Kazakhstan has been instructed to complete the process of full implementation of the National Payment System during 2024, Trend reports.
The country is looking to develop its stock market, setting this as priority. There are two stock exchanges in Kazakhstan - the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and the Astana International Financial Center (AIX).
As President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said, the two stock exchanges largely duplicate each other, and sometimes even compete with each other, which is redundant for the country's financial system.
In order to increase the capacity and attractiveness of the domestic market, it was decided to work on potentially combining the two exchanges into a single management.
The president also said that stability of payment systems remains a very relevant financial topic.
"Last year, the National Bank launched the first component of the National Payment System - the Instant Payment System, which is currently operating in a pilot mode," he said.
The banking sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan is represented by 21 second-tier banks, of which 12 are banks with foreign participation, including 8 subsidiary banks. Assets of the banking sector as of May 1, 2023 amounted to 44.8 trillion tenge (about $95 billion).